Case in point: Truefitt & Hill Sandalwood Travel Kit comes with a tiny 10 ml shaving cream and a matching aftershave balm, plus a disposable razor. And while you’d think they would be empty after three goes, miraculously, they’re not. Plus, they do double-duty, layering on the sandalwood, cedar, lavender and citrus notes, so you don’t have to pack a fragrance (although I do anyway). T & H is always spot on with clean, manly, Britishy scents reminiscent of the good old days, also offering cream and cologne sample packs online that are also extremely packable. Truefitt & Hill Sandalwood Travel Kit, $19, truefittandhill.ca.

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The same questions crop up time and again, and there never seems to be definitive answers – it sometimes seems like a moving target out there when it comes to booking a flight. BUT, I’ve tried to amalgamate the words of wisdom from a few big travel brains into my post here.

First off, let’s look at price jumps. Airlines use “dynamic pricing” a practice of setting prices based on demand. They don’t just price flights according to the time of day or their popularity, but on how interested you seem to be in a particular flight. They know this via the cookies stored in your browser that keep track of your browsing behaviour – little files of data created by a website, so you don’t have to fill in the same details over and over again when you visit a site. It’s the more persistent cookies you have to shut down. To avoid this, you need to disable the cookies, use your friend’s laptop or use either Skyscanner.net and Momondo.com, both sites that don’t hike prices in this way.

With regards to shopping, book on the weekends, because the traffic online drops way down as the business world stops looking for cheap last-minute fares. As well, airlines post their best deals on the weekend, because they know that’s when the bargain-hunters are hunting. Tuesday is also not a bad day to book, because that’s the day airlines try to offload seats that didn’t sell on the weekend.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are still the cheapest days to actually fly. This is also related to the volume of business traffic on all the other days. Maybe your long weekend away is Saturday to Tuesday? Being flexible in this way saves money, and the difference in cost can sometimes be enough to warrant an extra night in a hotel.

Wondering when to press Book Now? The number of days in advance that you should book varies from expert to expert, but the nice people at Frommer’s suggest these below as a benchmark:

• 57 days for domestic flights
• 77 Caribbean
• 90 Americas
• 140 EU
• 160 Asia

These are all more than you thought, aren’t they? Last-minutey people: Change your wasteful ways, and start saving.

The post Cheap Flight FAQs appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

1. Skip the ceviche, the tuna tartare – any raw fish or meat.
2. Take a pass on burritos, hot sauce, jerk wings, etc.
3. Keep alcohol intake to a dull roar to avoid dehydration and heartburn.
4. No poutine, heavy pastas, giant steaks or anything greasy (i.e. fast food).
5. Avoid gassy foods such as cabbage or beans.
6. Soda pop and fizzy water just pre-bloats your about-to-bloat-even-more body. (I sometimes have to sit on Tim’s stomach after a flight.)
7. Some experts say fasting before a flight helps fight jetlag, but the jury is still out on that. If you do, just try not to pass out.
8. As you get older the above rules become increasingly important. Eat at your own risk. Plain toast, anyone?

The post Prep Your Travel Stomach appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

1. Believe it. Adopt the mindset that “you can do it” rather than mentally shutting down your travel dream once you envision it.
2. Schedule it. Pick the best time of year to visit your destination, then assign it a month (and a year).
3. Plan ahead. Buy the flights as soon as you can, so that when travel time comes, they are paid off. (Can you use credit card points?)
4. Research deeper. Research to find discount accommodation options (family-run B&Bs, hostels) so you can splurge elsewhere. Figure out what you want to do in advance, so you don’t spend money needlessly while you’re living the holiday, caving in to expensive excursions.
5. Save like you’ve never saved before. Start a fund meant only for the trip, and set a weekly or monthly contribution goal.
6. Keep saving. Contribute all the extra funds you can: dividends, work bonus, piggy bank, $10 lottery ticket win – everything.

The post Travel More Now appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

That accounts for my sweet tooth. She could well have, but likely not, and it certainly would be frowned upon in this day and age. With more and more children taking to the skies, parents need all the tips they can get. Start with a few of these.

1. Choose a destination where the change in climate is not too drastic.
2. Make a very detailed packing list (even if you think you don’t need to), writing down everything from the basics to weather-appropriate clothes.
3. Resist the urge to pack the entire nursery. Resorts and hotels worth their salt will have larger items like high chairs, usually at no charge. Ask them before leaving home.
4. Pack more of things you won’t likely be able to buy.
5. Schedule your flight to coincide with nap time or fly overnight. If the airline offers it, book a bassinet.
6. Opt for a direct flight, and nothing that lands too late at night.
7. Give her a bottle or sippy cup for takeoff and landing, to help ease any ear trouble.
8. A small cooler can come in handy for milk and food. (Flight attendants won’t let you use the fridge.)
9. Bring compact, multi-faceted toys and games only, including your iPad.
10. Do you have a new toy to surprise him with halfway through the trip?
11. Beware: Children’s Gravol can sometimes have a reverse effect.
12. Relax. Your children can sense your stress.

The post Travelling With Kids appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

1. Rather than shelling out for the taxi fare, persuade a friend or relative to drive you to the airport. Then return the favour another day, or another way.

2. Take a bus, train or the local transit to and from the airport, even if it means leaving home earlier—and packing lighter.

3. Take an empty water bottle through security, then fill it up on the other side. You don’t need to pay $4 for a bottle of water post security-check.

4. Coffee up at home.

5. If you’re not going through customs, bring foods that are easy to pack—sushi, burritos, sandwiches—and skip the (usually mediocre) departure lounge food.

6. Stay out of all the shops! Bring books, magazines and sundries like batteries and confections with you. Plan ahead.

7. Skip Duty Free completely. Always be suspicious of people who want to sell you something too hard.

The post Save Money at the Airport appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

1. Mentally prepare yourself for weather delays – for the planes, and for the trains and automobiles that lead up to your initial flight.

2. Book flights as early as possible, and go with the morning routes. There is more chance of correcting a connecting problem if it occurs early in the day.

3. Leave lots of time between flights in case your starting leg is behind schedule.

4. What’s the weather in the connecting city for the flight you’re thinking of booking? Many people ignore this, so don’t be one of them. There’s more chance of weather delays in New York than in Miami, for example.

5. Consider that smaller connecting airports will have fewer problems, less people, less traffic, etc.

6. Can’t handle it? Pay the extra money to fly non-stop.

The post Connecting Flights appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

The trick is to be armed with these few simple tips on document safety.

1. Travel.gc.ca/travelling will help you find pre-travel information on countries you’re thinking of visiting, so you can nip problems in the bud.

2. Head to travel.gc.ca/assistance/embassies for a list of embassies and consulates that provide services to Canadians abroad, in case things are looking dire.

3. Visit ppt.gc.ca if you lose your passport. This site is also good for fraud alerts and information on identity theft.

4. Always travel with both electronic and paper copies of your complete travel insurance plan.

5. Keep jpgs of your passport and driver’s license, plus all medical info and insurance info, tucked away online on Google or Dropbox or some kind of cloud.

6. Always look on the bright side. There’s bound to be one somewhere.

The post Crisis Management appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

1. Trip cancellation.

2. Trip interruption.

3. Medical emergency.

4. Earthquake. Don’t laugh. This happens.

5. Hurricane.

6. Terrorist attack.

7. Labour strike.

8. Beached cruise ship. This happened to my auntie once, and she had to come home in her pajamas.

9. Death in the family (see Point 2).

10. You have elderly and/or rickety parents (see Point 9).

Bonus Reason. Your own death!

Check with your insurance agent, and if you don’t have one, it’s worth the effort to shop around first.

The post Why to Buy Travel Insurance appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

I will not soon forget the first time I saw someone use one of those old-fashioned public pissoirs in Amsterdam. I thought: seriously? Isn’t Europe a first-world place? Gross. Since then, I have gone to the bathroom in places I would rather forget. My new mantra: Get over yourself and get on with your business. Here are a few tips:

1. Always take advantage of a washroom when one is available, even if you don’t think you have to go.

2. Be mindful of your water intake if there is even a remote chance of getting stuck in traffic. (I once flew to Montreal with a bursting bladder, because the plumbing at Billy Bishop Airport was malfunctioning that morning and there was turbulence the whole way.)

3. Carry a few sachets of disinfecting wipes in your day pack. Good for skinned knees, too.

4. A small bottle of hand sanitizer is great for sharing with the group/kids.

5. Pocket extra napkins from the lunch table, in case you need them later.

6. Keep a few coins on you in case the toilet has a toll. Or an attendant.

7. When presented with facilities that are not what you’re used to (i.e. holes in the floor), just roll with it. At least you’ll get a good story out of it.

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